Drawer



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. R..L. MERZ.

- DRAWER;

(No Model.)

Patented Nov. 12, 1895.

.PHOTDLITKQWASHINGTUNJC.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. MERZ, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE GEO. D. BARNARD & COMPANY, OF ILLINOIS.

DRAWER.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,852, dated November 12, 1895.

' Application filed March 25, 1895. Serial No, 543,136. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT L. MERZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Drawers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to drawers having cases or running in guides, and is especially useful in connection with small drawers designed to contain papers, such as are known as file-holders; and the chief objects of my improvement are, first, to provide means which while allowing a drawer to be almost entirely withdrawn from its case or guides will prevent its entirewithdrawal by a straight pull and hold it suspended in position when drawn out as far as it can be by such a pull; second, to provide means which while preventing the accidental withdrawal of a drawer by a straight pull and holding it in place when pulled out as far as it can be in that way will permit the drawer to be readily with drawn entirely from its case when desired;

I. third, to provide means for lightening and cheapening drawers, and, fourth, to provide means to. enable drawers to run more easily when pushed in or drawn out. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a case embodying my improvement designed to contain papers and stationery. Fig. 2 is in part a vertical cross-section of said case along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 and in part a side elevation of drawers therein contained and therewith connected, two of its drawers being shown partially drawn out and suspended in position, two in place as represented in Fig. 1, and two drawers of the case being absent. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the file-holder shown in Fig. 2 and the portion of the case designed therefor along the line 3 3, Fig. 2, the outer end of the file-holder and the central portion of the case being broken away. Fig. 4 is a similar view, except that the file-holder is shown twisted around, so as to enable it to be removed entirely from the case. Fig. 51s a vertical cross-section along the line 5 5, Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detailed View in part showing the lower ends of a pair of vertical partitions in vertical cross-section along the line 6 6, Fig. 3 and in part a front elevation of the two pairs of guides shown in Fig. 3 and of portions of the beading on the edges of said partitions and the part dividing the compartment for the file-holder shown in Fig. 3 horizontally from the compartment beneath. Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of one of the fileholders in its preferred form. Fig. 8 is a plan View of the bottom of the rearend of one of said file holders, the forward part being broken away. Fig. 9 is a view in perspective of the rear end of one of said file-holders in an inverted position. Fig. 10 is a horizontal cross-section along the line 10 10, Fig. 11, of a modification of said improvement; and Fig. 11 is a vertical cross-section along the line 11 11, Fig. 10.

Similar letters refer to similar parts th roughout the several views.

A, Figs. 1 and 2, is a case designed to contain file-holders and drawers for stationery. The upper part is divided off by vertical partitions a and a horizontal partition a into eight compartments (1. each designed to receive a file-holder, and the lower part is divided off by horizontal partitions of into-four compartments a, each designed to receive a larger drawer for stationery. No particular form of case or number of compartments is essential to my improvement, however. It may be applied to a case having a single compartment or any number of compartments more than one, and, as will be obvious, the drawers may either be uniform in size and shape or different.

In the preferred form of my device each compartment in the case intended to receive the drawer or drawers is provided with a pair of guides a and a. They preferably extend from the rear of the compartment to near the front, as shown. One of them a is preferably open at the outer end and the other a is preferably provided with a stop at that end.

B B B B B, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, are file-holders. Each is preferably provided witha front piece 1) large enough to close that compartment of the case devoted to it, a handle 17, side pieces 19 .19 bottom pieces b 12 having runners b b, and between the parts b b I prefer to leave an open slot 6 for the purpose of lightening and cheapening the construction. The bottom pieces U Z) are preferably connected. at the rear by a cross-piece I).

In the preferred form of my device I attach to the bottom of each drawer at the rear end a pair of laterally-extending lugs I)" Z2 which may conveniently be made of one piece of metal, as in the form illustrated in Figs. 7, S, and 9, though that is not essential, as will be obvious.

B 13 3 3, Figs. 1 and 2, are drawers designed to contain stationery. They may be provided withhandles Z1. Their bottoms are preferably formed like those of the file-holders, except that they preferably have no openings through them. Like the file-holders, they are each provided in the preferable form with a pair of lugs 11 D In other respects 1 form them like ordinary drawers. \Vhen one of the tile-holders B or drawers B is in place, the lugs Z2 in the preferred form of my improvement extend into the guides a a of its compartment.

A tile-holder or drawer is introduced into its compartment by first turning it to one side slightly, as represented in Fig. at, and inserting one of the lugs b on the inner corner of the file-holder or drawer behind the stop a of the guide a and into said guide. The fileholder or drawer is then turned into the position represented in Fig. 3, no obstruction being presented by the other guide a. \Vhen in the position shown in Fig. 3, the file-holder or drawer is ready to be pushed into place. After having been pushed into the position occupied by the file-holders B and the drawers B (shown in Fig. 1) the drawer or tileholder, it pulled straight out, will not be able to come out of its compartment entirely by reason of the lug b in the guide a coming in contact with the stop a as soon as it reaches the position shown in Fig. 3 or such other point as it may be permitted to reach by the location of the stop. hen the file-holder or drawer is in the position shown in Fig. 3, it is prevented from falling by its lugs Z1 b the guides a and a, the stop a and the bottom. of its compartment. If desired, the assistance of the bottom of the compartment can be dispensed with by making the guides and lugs strong enough to support the weight of the drawer and contents. If when the fileholder or drawer is in the position last described the user desires to withdraw it entirelyi'ron'i the case, all thatis necessaryis to turn the file-holder or drawer sidewise into the position represented in Fig. i, so as to free the lug in the open guide therefrom, and then by a side movement disengage the other lug from its stop, which will leave the file-holder or drawer free.

In the modification shown in Figs. 10 and 1]. the position of the lugs and guides are reversed. The lugs D 11 are attached to the case, the guides are formed in the sides of the file-holder or drawer, and the stop a is located at the rear of the file-holder or drawer, instead of the forward end of a guide attached to the case. The operation of the two devices is substantially the same, and the two arrangements of guides, lugs, and stops are equivalents of each other, as will be obvious.

The runners b b are particularly useful where the lugs b l) are attached to the bottom of the file-holder 0r drawer in the manner shown in. Figs. 7, 8, and 9, and they are also useful without reference to the in for lessening the friction necessitated by resting a file-holder or drawer directly upon its bottom.

The special details of construction shown are the ones I prefer; but I do not desire to be confined to them, but to cover equivalents broadly.

In my claims I use the word drawer in its generic sense and as including illeholder.

I elai.m-

1. The combination of a drawer, a pair of lugs, and a pair of guides, one guide having a stop at one end, limiting the direct with drawal of the drawer, and the other guide being open at the corresponding end and allowing the drawer to be removed when desired, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a drawer, a case, a free outward passage for the drawer on one side, a step 011 the other side attached to the case; a part attached to the drawer engaging said step when the drawer is pulled straight out but disengageable by a movement of the rear end of the drawer, toward the side opposite the one where the stop is located substantially as described.

3. The combination of a drawer, a pair of lugs, and a pair of guides, one guide having a stop at one end, limiting the direct withdrawal of the drawer, and the other guide being open at the corresponding end, and allowing the drawer to be removed from the guides when desired, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a drawerhaving runners Z)" I)", on its bottom, and lugs b 11 at taehed to its bottom in the neighborhood of its rear end, and a case containing a pair of guides, one open at the outer end, and the other containing a stop at that end, and said lugs moving in said guides, substantially as described.

\Vitness my hand this 21st day of March, 1895.

ROBERT L. MERZ.

Witnesses:

A. Pl'z'rino, J r., T. M. Burners. 

